Page 24 of Oops, My Professor Got Me Pregnant!

“Really? What’s your favorite?” Louis’s eyes lit up.

“I like the brachiosaurus.”

Now the boy wrinkled his nose. “Only girls like the brachiosaurus best.”

“Well, I am a girl.”

“I guess so.”

“What’s your favorite dinosaur?”

“The velociraptor.” Louis held up the dinosaur in question by the tail.

“That is a very cool dinosaur. You speak really good English, by the way.”

“Thanks.” Louis beamed.

“I spoke both English and French with him since he was a baby,” Nico explained as he lowered himself to the floor on Louis’s other side. “Louis, I know it’s exciting to have company, but we do need to get you off to bed.”

“Man.” Louis stuck out his lip. “Already?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Will Lauren read my story?”

Nico glanced at Lauren, who shrugged and grinned.

“I’d be happy to.”

“Okay, fine. I’ll go brush my teeth.” Louis jumped to his feet, selected a dinosaur to accompany him, and hurried up the stairs. Nico turned to Lauren.

“I know this must be a bit of a shock,” he said. “But I thought the best way to explain was just to show you.”

“You have a wonderful son,” Lauren told him. Nico chuckled.

“Thank you. But I’m not sure you’d say the same when he’s covered in jam and crying because he doesn’t want to go to soccer practice.”

“This is why you had to leave that morning, right?” Lauren asked.

Nico nodded. “I realized I was running late to pick Louis up, and I felt so guilty, I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“I understand now.” Lauren opened her mouth to ask another question, the question that was burning in the back of her mind. She did understand a lot. It made sense that Nico would have worried about his son and rushed out. And Lauren, as understanding as she tried to be, even empathized with Nico’s decision not to tell her about his son when they’d first met. They had been practically strangers after all, even though she had felt a connection.

That’s what she needed to ask about. Lauren had felt a strong connection between them, and some part of her hoped that Nico had invited her over this evening because he felt it too. But it also seemed possible that he’d just asked her to dinner to clear the air, so that they’d be able to function as professor and student for the rest of the quarter without incident.

Lauren had to know how Nico felt.

“Do you?—”

But before she could speak the words, a boy-shaped ball of energy came flying back down the stairs and into Nico’s lap. Lauren stopped her question abruptly. There was no way she’d ask about Nico’s feelings for her in front of his son.

“I’m ready for my story,” Louis said. Then, with a glance at his father, he added a slightly drawn out, “Pleeeease.”

“Okay, I’m ready, too.” Lauren got to her feet and Louis charged back up the stairs.

“Come on!” he called back to her.

Lauren followed the boy upstairs with Nico at her heels.

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